Ex-Reform councillor threatened to hunt wife ‘like prey’

A court has sentenced Reform Kent councillor Daniel Taylor to 12 months in prison. As reported by the BBC, he admitted to “behaving in a controlling or coercive way towards his wife”.

Taylor won his council seat in May 2025. The party suspended Taylor shortly after, with the councillor sitting as an independent since then.

In response to the conviction, Labour MP Polly Billington and others have questioned the far-right party’s vetting:

#Reform Councillor David Taylor JAILED.

"nasty and violent".
"told his wife he would hunt her like prey and kill her, and that he would "put her in the boot and set fire to the car".

And STILL he was 'vetted' & 'approved' by #Reform as a candidate while this was all going on. pic.twitter.com/WhMox3ope4

— John O'Connell (@jdpoc) February 20, 2026

Reform — ‘Prey’

As reported by the BBC:

The court heard Taylor had shown controlling behaviour since 2014 and according to friends he was constantly putting his wife down and accusing her of cheating.

He demanded to look though her phone, isolated her from her friends and told her she was mentally unwell because she accused him of being controlling, the court was told.

The prosecution said Taylor had told his wife he would hunt her like prey and kill her, and that he would “put you in the boot and set fire to the car”.

Labour MP Billington said that the conviction:

points to the fact that Reform UK do not take vetting of their candidates seriously

As reported by the Canary, the far-right party have had to suspend multiple politicians following their election. This has included:

• MP James McMurdock (revealed to have a conviction for assaulting his then-girlfriend).
• Staffordshire Council leader Ian Cooper (exposed for racist posts).
• Councillor Tom Pickup (exposed for racist and violent posts).

Reform Party UK Exposed have listed further suspensions (click ‘show more’ below for the full list):

Reform UK Review 2025:

Reform UK councillors that have been suspended, resigned or defected this year alone. This includes a Council Leader, Ian Cooper, white supremacist.

➡️ Kicked Out
Brian Black
Oliver Bradshaw
Paul Thomas
Bob Ford
Bill Barratt
Ed Hill
James Regan
Mark… pic.twitter.com/yH8NoLsg9q

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) December 26, 2025

A spokesperson for Reform UK said that there is:

no place in Reform for those who perpetrate violence against women and girls

Currently, Reform is losing councillors to ‘Restore’, which is the further-right party established by Rupert Lowe. Lowe himself was a member of Reform, but was forced out of the party.

Featured image via BBC